15 celebrities who have controversially starred in a Woody Allen movie — and what they've said about it

Selena Gomez and Blake Lively have both worked with Woody Allen. Dimitrios Kambouris/Jamie McCarthy/Mike Coppola/Getty Images

Woody Allen is a Hollywood legend, well-known for his movies. But Allen's offscreen behavior may actually rival his acclaim or professional accomplishments, even despite his big paychecks and his status.

Amidst allegations of abuse and decades of denials, Allen still continues to work in film, tapping big names for starring roles in his movies and still garnering support for fans and audiences. As men like Harvey Weinstein continue to face accountability and justice (or what Allen has called a "witch hunt"), where does Woody Allen fall in Hollywood's historic reckoning?

Many actors and actresses have been accused of not only remaining complacent, but actively encouraging Allen's behavior with their continued participation in his productions.

These celebrities have taken on roles in different Woody Allen movies and this is what they've had to say about it.

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Selena Gomez

Selena Gomez on set of the unnamed Woody Allen movie.
AP

Selena Gomez faced tough criticism after signing on to star in a new Woody Allen film in 2017 reportedly about "a middle-aged man who is sleeping with a much younger woman, among other actresses."

Gomez responded to the backlash and explained her thought process to Billboard, who named her its "Woman of the Year."

"To be honest, I'm not sure how to answer — not because I'm trying to back away from it," Gomez said. "[The Harvey Weinstein allegations] actually happened right after I had started [on the movie]. They popped up in the midst of it. And that's something, yes, I had to face and discuss. I stepped back and thought, 'Wow, the universe works in interesting ways.'"

She also followed up by mentioning her solidarity with women who'd experienced sexual assault or harassment.

"I feel all those things. I've cried," Gomez said. "But I definitely feel hopeful. As people speak out, I hope that feels powerful to them, because they deserve to feel that. I'm fortunate enough not to have experienced some of the traumatic things that other women have had to go through. I've known people in my family who've gone through those things. I try to let people come to me and open up, to make a safe environment for them to do so."

For his part, Timberlake has remained mostly quiet in his responses, but did follow up questions about Allen with his take on the Weinstein scandal during an interview with Inquirer.net.

"I'm an only child raised by his mother. So, I am extremely sensitive to women because I love my mom so much," Timberlake said while promoting "Wonder Wheel." "Everything you've heard about in the last few weeks, it's sad. I hope that it gives a lot of women the courage to step up … I don't feel that I've ever had anyone of the opposite sex or the same sex try to take advantage of me. But, I know how I would feel. I think about my mother and my wife, and if I were to have a daughter one day, how I would feel about that."

He continued by saying, "This is a serious matter and I don't want to make a joke of it. I hope that it does inspire a lot of people, any minority who's been preyed upon in this way to speak up and feel confident that they can speak up."

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Elle Fanning

Elle Fanning on the set of the unnamed Woody Allen film.
AP

19-year-old Elle Fanning will star with Selena Gomez in the aforementioned upcoming Woody Allen film, which a report said will feature a sexual relationship between an older man and a 21-year-old girl.

Fanning did not confront the Woody Allen controversy but did say that she was "nervous" to get started with the film.

"For [Woody Allen] films, it's such a whole new experience," Fanning told Vanity Fair. "His crew picks up the cast in these giant vans that come up to your apartment in New York. Sometimes you're the only person getting in the van. The first time Timothée was in the van, we spent the first 25 minutes talking to each other."

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Timothée Chalamet

Timothée Chalamet on the set of the unnamed Woody Allen film.
AP

Timothée Chalamet is considered a newly discovered breakout star. His increased fame is partially due to his role in "Call Me By Your Name," a film about a romance between a 24-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy.

Chalamet will also star with Selena Gomez and Elle Fanning in the untitled Allen film. When the LA Times asked Chalamet about his role in the upcoming movie and its relationship to sexual harassment or abuse, he was tight-lipped.

"I understand the question, certainly; it's going to be not only important but imperative to talk about," Chalamet said. "I'm hesitant to talk about it now because I'm here for 'Call Me by Your Name.'"

"I have been asked in a few recent interviews about my decision to work on a film with Woody Allen last summer," Chalamet wrote on Instagram. "I'm not able to answer the question directly because of contractual obligations. But what I can say is this: I don't want to profit from my work on the film, and to that end, I am going to donate my entire salary to three charities: TIME'S UP, The LGBT Center in New York, and RAINN [Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network]. I want to be worthy of standing shoulder to shoulder with the brave artists who are fighting for all people to be treated with the respect and dignity they deserve."

Kate Winslet

Kate Winslet sparked Oscar buzz for her role in "Wonder Wheel," but the role was a catalyst for controversy.

Dylan Farrow called Winslet, Blake Lively, and others out by name for working with Allen, writing that he had been "spared" from the #MeToo movement in part due to their complicity.

In a September 2017 interview with the New York Times, Winslet specifically discussed her decision to work with Allen.

"I didn't know Woody and I don't know anything about that family," Winslet said. "As the actor in the film, you just have to step away and say, I don't know anything, really, and whether any of it is true or false. Having thought it all through, you put it to one side and just work with the person. Woody Allen is an incredible director."

In December 2017, Winslet said that Allen is "on some level" a woman due to his ability to write female characters, leading to even more backlash.

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Blake Lively

Blake Lively appeared in Allen's 2016 movie "Cafe Society." Dylan Farrow mentioned Lively's role in the film in the aforementioned op-ed, elaborating on what seems to be hypocrisy in Lively's handling of the Weinstein case versus the allegations against Woody Allen.

"It's important that women are furious right now," Lively said of the Weinstein scandal. "It's important that there is an uprising."

Conversely, Lively pleaded the fifth in discussing Allen.

"It's very dangerous to factor in things you don't know anything about. I could [only] know my experience," Farrow quoted Lively as saying.

"I was like, 'What do you think? We don't know any of these people involved. I can personalize situations, which would be very wrong,'" Stewart said. "At the end of the day, Jesse [Eisenberg, her co-star] and I talked about this. If we were persecuted for the amount of sh-- that's been said about us that's not true, our lives would be over … The experience of making the movie was so outside of that, it was fruitful for the two of us to go on with it."

Emma Stone

Emma Stone has long been championed as a feminist, but some critics questioned whether her work with Allen was at odds with her public stance.

After Stone starred in Allen's 2015 "Irrational Man," about a college professor who enters a relationship with a student, Dylan Farrow asked Stone by name in the previously mentioned New York Times piece, "What if it had been you, Emma Stone?"

Stone didn't respond but did say that she'd had a positive experience with Allen in a 2015 interview.

"I can certainly tick [making movies with Allen] off on my bucket list and the experience of working with him couldn't have gone better," Stone said.

When speaking with The Guardian, Stone was a bit more measured, especially in discussing the disturbing plot of "Irrational Man."

"I understand all that," she said. "Just to speak solely of 'Irrational Man,' the relationship is genuinely a plot point. It's pretty openly discussed in the film that this is a student who is falling in love with her professor, and she wants to bring this intelligence and almost toxic energy into her life."

She continued by saying that nobody had mentioned such age differences when they occurred in her other roles.

Ellen Page

A then-24-year-old Ellen Page signed on to play a part in 2012's "To Rome With Love," as directed by Woody Allen.

In November of 2017, Page took to Facebook and wrote an essay stating that working with Allen on "To Rome With Love" was the "biggest regret" of her career.

"I did a Woody Allen movie and it is the biggest regret of my career," Page wrote. "I am ashamed I did this. I had yet to find my voice and was not who I am now and felt pressured, because 'of course you have to say yes to this Woody Allen film.' Ultimately, however, it is my choice what films I decide to do and I made the wrong choice. I made an awful mistake."

Later, Dylan Farrow would thank Page in The Los Angeles Times.

"It meant the world to me when Ellen Page said she regretted working with Allen, and when actresses Jessica Chastain and Susan Sarandon told the world why they never would," Farrow wrote in her op-ed.

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Greta Gerwig

Greta Gerwig and Woody Allen at the after party for "To Rome With Love."Jason Merritt/TERM

Greta Gerwig, who's been recently lauded for her directorial work in "Lady Bird," also acted in "To Rome With Love" alongside Ellen Page.

In 2017, Gerwig told NPR's Terry Gross that she was nervous to discuss working with Allen, but admired what Page had said.

"I think I'm living in that space of fear of being worried about how I talk about it and what I say," Gerwig said in the interview. "And I was in that film with Ellen Page, who wrote something very beautiful recently and very strong and thoughtful recently."

But Gerwig addressed her working with Allen head on in 2018, telling The New York Times that she would never work with him again.

"If I had known then what I know now, I would not have acted in the film. I have not worked for him again, and I will not work for him again," Gerwig said. "Dylan Farrow's two different pieces made me realize that I increased another woman's pain, and I was heartbroken by that realization. I grew up on his movies, and they have informed me as an artist, and I cannot change that fact now, but I can make different decisions moving forward."

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Charlize Theron

Woody Allen, Helen Hunt, and Charlize Theron at a reception for "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion."
AP

Charlize Theron has also worked with Allen several times, in 1998's "Celebrity" and 2001's "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion."

Allen reportedly remarked that Theron was "so hot that if she was in this room your buttons would melt."

Theron has not discussed Allen's role in the accusations against him, remaining quiet about her thoughts. She did, however, support Time's Up, adding her name to the open letter.

Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett Johansson has a particular fondness for working with Allen, starring in three of his films: "Match Point," "Scoop," and "Vicky Cristina Barcelona."

After Dylan Farrow's aforementioned comments, which included Johansson's name, Johansson took a very strong stance against Farrow.

"I think it's irresponsible to take a bunch of actors that will have a Google alert on and to suddenly throw their name into a situation that none of us could possibly knowingly comment on," Johansson told The Guardian in 2014. "That just feels irresponsible to me."

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Cate Blanchett

Cate Blanchett and Woody Allen at the premiere of "Blue Jasmine."
AP

Cate Blanchett worked with Allen and eventually won an Academy Award for her part in "Blue Jasmine.

Blanchett avoided discussing the allegations against Allen specifically and commented on her wishes for Allen's whole family.

"It's obviously been a long and painful situation for the family and I hope they find some resolution and peace," Blanchett said at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.

Three years later, Blanchett accepted an InStyle award with an impassioned speech about sexual harassment.

"We all like looking sexy, but it doesn't mean we want to f--- you," she said. "No one says to [former White House chief strategist] Steve Bannon, 'You look like a bag of trash. Do you want me to throw you out?' But the comments that get said about what women wear on the red carpet? If you troll through those trolls on the internet, just don't."

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Mira Sorvino

Mira Sorvino with Woody Allen in 1996.
AP

Mira Sorvino, who appeared in Allen's 1995 film "Mighty Aphrodite," and won the Oscar for best supporting actress for the film, apologized directly to Dylan and Mia Farrow in a post for HuffPo in 2018.

"I confess that at the time I worked for Woody Allen I was a naive young actress," Sorvino wrote. "I swallowed the media's portrayal of your abuse allegations against your father as an outgrowth of a twisted custody battle between Mia Farrow and him, and did not look further into the situation, for which I am terribly sorry. For this I also owe an apology to Mia."

"@MiraSorvino, I am overwhelmed and my gratitude to you cannot be expressed sufficiently in words. This letter is beautiful and I will carry your words with me," Farrow tweeted. "Your courage has been boundless and your activism an example for us all. From the bottom of my heart, thank you."